USA job offer

[dom123 0]

I'm a British national, aged 41, single, and I've recently been offered a job to work as a personal assistance to a recognized international sports star. I've known him since 2003 and he is an American citizen, based in the US but traveling extensively throughout the year worldwide. This position carries a high trust factor and i would have dealings with very personal matters and my prospective employers finances. He has never employed anyone that he doesn't already know and he employs all of his staff on a 1099 contractor basis.

What are my options? I have no professional qualifications and no higher education certificates. He has offered me the job because he trusts me and as a friend I've travelled with him on a few occasions and am familiar with his routine in and around his professional schedule.

I have discussed options with a few lawyers and I'm getting very negative feedback. I find it hard to believe that it could be that difficult to obtain a working visa under the above circumstances. One particular lawyer wants to apply for an H1-B visa and is pretty relaxed about it, at a cost of $5000. I have a cousin who is a green card holder and he said the an ''O'' visa was the way forward for me but I'm not sure that's correct.

Any advice would be appreciated. I've travelled to the States on several occasions over the last few years, love the country and would eventually like to relocate. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and I'm desperate to find a way to make it happen. At present I travel under the ESTA visa waiver scheme and am considering applying for a tourist visa to allow me to stay for a longer period on my next visit.

With thanks

Dom

[grrrrreat 109]

I'm a British national, aged 41, single, and I've recently been offered a job to work as a personal assistance to a recognized international sports star. I've known him since 2003 and he is an American citizen, based in the US but traveling extensively throughout the year worldwide. This position carries a high trust factor and i would have dealings with very personal matters and my prospective employers finances. He has never employed anyone that he doesn't already know and he employs all of his staff on a 1099 contractor basis.

What are my options? I have no professional qualifications and no higher education certificates. He has offered me the job because he trusts me and as a friend I've travelled with him on a few occasions and am familiar with his routine in and around his professional schedule.

I have discussed options with a few lawyers and I'm getting very negative feedback. I find it hard to believe that it could be that difficult to obtain a working visa under the above circumstances. One particular lawyer wants to apply for an H1-B visa and is pretty relaxed about it, at a cost of $5000. I have a cousin who is a green card holder and he said the an ''O'' visa was the way forward for me but I'm not sure that's correct.

Any advice would be appreciated. I've travelled to the States on several occasions over the last few years, love the country and would eventually like to relocate. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and I'm desperate to find a way to make it happen. At present I travel under the ESTA visa waiver scheme and am considering applying for a tourist visa to allow me to stay for a longer period on my next visit.

With thanks

Dom

I don't think you can get an O visa, it is for truly renowned people of extraordinary abilities. O-2 is for people who need to accompany O visa holders for specific events, but if your boss is a US citizen he's obviously not an O visa holder. If you're talking it over with several competent lawyers and you're getting negative feedback, then it is what it is. You absolutely cannot work in the US under a tourist visa or under the visa waiver program, so forget about that. You can do "business" but not on a permanent basis, as you describe. There are visas for specialized workers, but they can be difficult to get. The lawyers may be concluding that a personal assistant just isn't a sufficiently specialized job to qualify for an employment based visa. You might be able to get into the US for now, but at some point they are going to notice that you are spending more time inside the US than outside and likely deny you.

By the way, even if you were to qualify for an employment based visa, your boss would have to sponsor you. Where is he in all this? If he wants you to have the job he should help make it happen, including by providing a lawyer for you. Good luck.

[dom123 0]

I don't think you can get an O visa, it is for truly renowned people of extraordinary abilities. O-2 is for people who need to accompany O visa holders for specific events, but if your boss is a US citizen he's obviously not an O visa holder. If you're talking it over with several competent lawyers and you're getting negative feedback, then it is what it is. You absolutely cannot work in the US under a tourist visa or under the visa waiver program, so forget about that. You can do "business" but not on a permanent basis, as you describe. There are visas for specialized workers, but they can be difficult to get. The lawyers may be concluding that a personal assistant just isn't a sufficiently specialized job to qualify for an employment based visa. You might be able to get into the US for now, but at some point they are going to notice that you are spending more time inside the US than outside and likely deny you.

By the way, even if you were to qualify for an employment based visa, your boss would have to sponsor you. Where is he in all this? If he wants you to have the job he should help make it happen, including by providing a lawyer for you. Good luck.

Thank you for your response. Can you expand on what constitutes ''doing business'' in the US? At the moment i'm not carrying out any work, paid or unpaid, in the US and just visit my friend and travel with him to the odd event. I'm fortunate in that I can spend time in the US relatively cheaply being that my friend is obviously wealthy and extremely generous!

We've talked initially about doing a deal till the end of 2012 and then re-evaluating. I plan to sit with him in May and see whether he visualizes this going into 2013 and beyond so that we can form a clear strategy for a visa application going forward. I'm told that we'd need to get an employment based visa application in before October. There is no problem getting his sponsorship and his teams legal support.

How much weight does it carry that he absolutely specific that he wants ME to do this job for him purely on a trust level? Is that relevant??

best

Dom

[grrrrreat 109]

Thank you for your response. Can you expand on what constitutes ''doing business'' in the US? At the moment i'm not carrying out any work, paid or unpaid, in the US and just visit my friend and travel with him to the odd event. I'm fortunate in that I can spend time in the US relatively cheaply being that my friend is obviously wealthy and extremely generous!

We've talked initially about doing a deal till the end of 2012 and then re-evaluating. I plan to sit with him in May and see whether he visualizes this going into 2013 and beyond so that we can form a clear strategy for a visa application going forward. I'm told that we'd need to get an employment based visa application in before October. There is no problem getting his sponsorship and his teams legal support.

How much weight does it carry that he absolutely specific that he wants ME to do this job for him purely on a trust level? Is that relevant??

best

Dom

I doubt the trust thing matters, but you can ask a lawyer. More important is whether you have some skill that no one else in the world has. If you're basically going to be a combination personal assistant/secretary/accountant, those may be a dime a dozen. Traveling on a business visa means that you are conducting business in the U.S. for a specific and limited time and don't intend to stay, and that you remain employed by a firm outside of the U.S. and do not become an employee of a U.S. company or person. The main point about the visitor visa or the visa waiver program is that you do NOT intend to immigrate. If you intend to stay, you simply can't travel on that kind of visa, and if it looks to the border officers like you are trying to become a resident, they will deny you at the border eventually.

[aaron2020 11,651]

Thank you for your response. Can you expand on what constitutes ''doing business'' in the US? At the moment i'm not carrying out any work, paid or unpaid, in the US and just visit my friend and travel with him to the odd event. I'm fortunate in that I can spend time in the US relatively cheaply being that my friend is obviously wealthy and extremely generous!

We've talked initially about doing a deal till the end of 2012 and then re-evaluating. I plan to sit with him in May and see whether he visualizes this going into 2013 and beyond so that we can form a clear strategy for a visa application going forward. I'm told that we'd need to get an employment based visa application in before October. There is no problem getting his sponsorship and his teams legal support.

How much weight does it carry that he absolutely specific that he wants ME to do this job for him purely on a trust level? Absolutely none because a possible USCIS response would be; so there is absolutely no one in the US who he can trust like you? There is no way he could develop the trust with anyone in the US? Are there no honest people in the US???? It's not likely to float. He can trust others as much as he trust you. Some of them are unemployed US residents who could really use the job to be your friend's personal assistant. How come so many celebraties and athletes can find trusted personal assistants in the US, but not your friend? Is that relevant?? No.

best

Dom

It's highly unlikely that you will get a work visa for the US to be a personal assistant. Unless your friend can show some reason why he can't hire a US resident to work for him, he can't import a foreign worker when there is an available unemployed US resident.

Since your friend is obviously wealthy and extremely generous, maybe he can hire an immigration attorney to help you out with this. He's the employer. For a work visa, the employer must meet certain requirements and apply for the work visa on behalf of the foreign worker. You cannot apply on your own. Your employer should just hire an attorney to assist you.

P.S. You cannot work on the Visa Waiver Program or on a visitor visa. If your friend pays you, you can kiss coming back to the US for another visit. The US does not look kindly on foreign guests coming into the US and taking work that could have been done by a US resident.

Edited April 9, 2012 by aaron2020

[dom123 0]

I doubt the trust thing matters, but you can ask a lawyer. More important is whether you have some skill that no one else in the world has. If you're basically going to be a combination personal assistant/secretary/accountant, those may be a dime a dozen. Traveling on a business visa means that you are conducting business in the U.S. for a specific and limited time and don't intend to stay, and that you remain employed by a firm outside of the U.S. and do not become an employee of a U.S. company or person. The main point about the visitor visa or the visa waiver program is that you do NOT intend to immigrate. If you intend to stay, you simply can't travel on that kind of visa, and if it looks to the border officers like you are trying to become a resident, they will deny you at the border eventually.

I don't intend to stay illegally that's for sure. At this stage I'm trying to establish whether the whole thing is even feasible and thus far it appears not. It's fair to say that the job role is pretty basic but he's just not going to use anyone that he doesn't know or trust. I keep thinking that I'm going to be able to find an angle but alas it doesn't seem to be happening. I guess my best hope is that he offers me a longer term deal and then I can use the full weight of his legal team to try and get it done on an employment based visa basis. We won't agree that just yet.

Let me know if anything else springs to mind!!

Many thanks

Dom

[dom123 0]

It's highly unlikely that you will get a work visa for the US to be a personal assistant. Unless your friend can show some reason why he can't hire a US resident to work for him, he can't import a foreign worker when there is an available unemployed US resident.

Since your friend is obviously wealthy and extremely generous, maybe he can hire an immigration attorney to help you out with this.

He could hire any lawyer he wants, that's not why i'm here. I'm trying to get a clear understanding in my OWN mind of what options are or are not available to me. I understand your comments completely though and of course it makes perfect sense. The fact is that he's already interviewed more than two dozen US workers and is yet to find the right person, and this is why he's turned to me. I also don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that he would want to put a particular person in charge of his personal finances and that that person should be someone that he has known for a reasonable amount of time. Of course he could develop trust, that goes without saying, but I'm just exploring all options and arguments. There are American golfers that only use English/European caddies, you can't tell me that amongst the population of the USA there isn't an American that could do that job, or be trained to do it. In that profession, to a certain degree, it's the relationship that is just as important as the employees abilities.

I appreciate your response, thanks

Dom

[grrrrreat 109]

He could hire any lawyer he wants, that's not why i'm here. I'm trying to get a clear understanding in my OWN mind of what options are or are not available to me. I understand your comments completely though and of course it makes perfect sense. The fact is that he's already interviewed more than two dozen US workers and is yet to find the right person, and this is why he's turned to me. I also don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that he would want to put a particular person in charge of his personal finances and that that person should be someone that he has known for a reasonable amount of time. Of course he could develop trust, that goes without saying, but I'm just exploring all options and arguments. There are American golfers that only use English/European caddies, you can't tell me that amongst the population of the USA there isn't an American that could do that job, or be trained to do it. In that profession, to a certain degree, it's the relationship that is just as important as the employees abilities.

I appreciate your response, thanks

Dom

It just has to do with what you can get the immigration service to accept, which is where a good lawyer comes in. Caddies might actually qualify as specialized/knowledgeable workers, since practical experience can substitute for education. Good luck!

[dom123 0]

It just has to do with what you can get the immigration service to accept, which is where a good lawyer comes in. Caddies might actually qualify as specialized/knowledgeable workers, since practical experience can substitute for education. Good luck!

Understood.....many thanks

Dom

[aaron2020 11,651]

He could hire any lawyer he wants, that's not why i'm here. I'm trying to get a clear understanding in my OWN mind of what options are or are not available to me. I understand your comments completely though and of course it makes perfect sense. The fact is that he's already interviewed more than two dozen US workers and is yet to find the right person, and this is why he's turned to me. I also don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that he would want to put a particular person in charge of his personal finances and that that person should be someone that he has known for a reasonable amount of time. Of course he could develop trust, that goes without saying, but I'm just exploring all options and arguments. There are American golfers that only use English/European caddies, you can't tell me that amongst the population of the USA there isn't an American that could do that job, or be trained to do it. In that profession, to a certain degree, it's the relationship that is just as important as the employees abilities.

I appreciate your response, thanks

Dom

A professional caddie is completely different from a personal assistant.

A professional caddie has certain skills; knowledge of golf courses, knowledge about which club to use, etc. It matters to the golfer how his/her caddie evaluates the weather, the ground, the wind, the club, and gives advice. A professional caddie is a highly skilled position.

Generally, a personal assistant is not a highly skilled professional. Some are very skilled. But if Kim Kardasian (before the porn tape) could be a personal assistant to Brandy, then I don't think there is much in terms of skills there.

[dom123 0]

A professional caddie is completely different from a personal assistant.

A professional caddie has certain skills; knowledge of golf courses, knowledge about which club to use, etc. It matters to the golfer how his/her caddie evaluates the weather, the ground, the wind, the club, and gives advice. A professional caddie is a highly skilled position.

Generally, a personal assistant is not a highly skilled professional. Some are very skilled. But if Kim Kardasian (before the porn tape) could be a personal assistant to Brandy, then I don't think there is much in terms of skills there.

Hahaha, that's a great analogy....I like it. But, because I've travelled with my friend extensively for a decade (mostly in Europe, especially London), I have extensive knowledge and experience in dealing with various aspects of the tournaments that he plays in. I've had dealings with tournament officials for years and have always done it out of friendship and to get the opportunity to watch my friend complete. Anyone else would find it virtually impossible to walk straight into that successfully, and that's a fact.

Thanks again for the feedback

Dom

[aaron2020 11,651]

Hahaha, that's a great analogy....I like it. But, because I've travelled with my friend extensively for a decade (mostly in Europe, especially London), I have extensive knowledge and experience in dealing with various aspects of the tournaments that he plays in. I've had dealings with tournament officials for years and have always done it out of friendship and to get the opportunity to watch my friend complete. Anyone else would find it virtually impossible to walk straight into that successfully, and that's a fact.

Thanks again for the feedback

Dom

You can come on the VWP or a visitor visa to help your friend, watch him play, travel with him, etc. You can do practically anything you want. The only problem is that he can't legally employ you or pay you.

[aaron2020 11,651]

A professional caddie is completely different from a personal assistant.

A professional caddie has certain skills; knowledge of golf courses, knowledge about which club to use, etc. It matters to the golfer how his/her caddie evaluates the weather, the ground, the wind, the club, and gives advice. A professional caddie is a highly skilled position.

Generally, a personal assistant is not a highly skilled professional. Some are very skilled. But if Kim Kardasian (before the porn tape) could be a personal assistant to Brandy, then I don't think there is much in terms of skills there.

Hahaha, that's a great analogy....I like it. But, because I've travelled with my friend extensively for a decade (mostly in Europe, especially London), I have extensive knowledge and experience in dealing with various aspects of the tournaments that he plays in. I've had dealings with tournament officials for years and have always done it out of friendship and to get the opportunity to watch my friend complete. Anyone else would find it virtually impossible to walk straight into that successfully, and that's a fact.

Thanks again for the feedback

Dom

If Kim K. is qualified to do the job, then it's probably not a skilled position.

Edited April 10, 2012 by aaron2020